Peter wondered what was behind James’ action, but didn’t ask. “Well, you know it would make it easier if you’d actually show up sober for this.” The man reached out to take the bottle away from James.

The scrawny man pulled the bottle back out of Peter’s reach and wagged a cautioning finger to the man. “Sober? Who in the hell plays good sober except…” James glanced in Brooke’s direction again. “Nah, it ain’t worth it.”

“Look Dude, just set up and get ready to play.” Peter shook his head, making his way back to Brooke.

“Never change, will you James?” She let out a sigh.

“Sorry, Brooke.” Peter took the mic that Brooke offered him. “You know that he doesn’t really mean it.”

“Yeah well,” she resigned herself to getting the job done. “Not much I can do about it now. A deal is a deal. Besides, he means it,” She smirked.

“It’s just the liquor…”

“No offense Peter, but I don’t smell any alcohol on you.”

“I ah… I don’t do that any more. Maybe I’m growing up and not just out,” he put his hands on his slightly expanded waistline as he thought about what Brooke had said. “Deal? What deal?”

Brooke grinned and smacked him lightly on the back. “I knew you would come to your senses. Yeah, James and I made a deal. He didn’t tell you about it?” She looked at her friend with surprise.

“No. What’s the deal?” He turned a hopeful look in her direction. “You coming back?”

“No, sorry. Did he say anything to you about how much this was costing?”

The bass player grimaced at the news. “Well, it was a good wish.” He sighed and shook his head, “No, he just said that he had it covered.”

“He has it covered because he’s not paying for it, I am,” she smirked.

“You’re what?” Peter looked Brooke in the face to see if it was a joke. But she never laughed. “I’m not letting him…” the man turned toward James until he felt someone tugging him back in place. Looking down at his arm he saw Brooke’s hand wrapped around his wrist.

“The deal was, I’d do this but you guys owe me one night, one night of Anti-Zero… for a friend.”

“One night?” Peter looked over to James. “And he agreed to that? Better yet, you agreed to that?” His eyes came back to meet Brooke’s gaze.

Brooke spoke from her heart. “She loves A-Z. She never got to see us play. I want this to be her birthday present. It was my offer, my terms.”

“I hope she’s worth it.” Peter watched the expression on Brooke’s face change when she thought about her friend.

The ends of Brooke’s mouth curled up into a grin as she answered his question. “She’s worth more than that, but that one night would make her happy.”

Seeing Brooke’s reaction, Peter slowly smiled. “I think maybe our Brooke finally found a heart…huh?” He nudged her with his elbow and winked.

Brooke blushed and looked down to the ground. “Yeah, maybe. Doesn’t really matter, as soon as I found it, I lost it.” Her grin grew bigger just thinking of what Sam had done to her heart in such a short time.

“It looks good on you. I’m happy for you, count me in.” He grinned and clapped his friend on her shoulder. “When is this one night?”

“October thirtieth, ” Brooke returned his grin, knowing that he was sincere.

“Great!” Peter’s eyes grew bigger as he wiggled his eyebrows and his grin became more devilish in nature. “We’ll scare everyone, like were coming back from the dead.”

The woman laughed out loud. “Yeah, I told James, all the songs, even the ones we never released.”

“Whoa!” Peter exclaimed, “You really have lost that heart. She must be something else then.”

Blue eyes pinned him directly. “She’s everything, Pete.”

There was a moment of silence before Peter asked. “Does she know that you’re Loran? I mean just in case I run into her.”

Brooke thought about the fateful morning after C.C.’s birthday party when she and Sam almost split. “She does now. She didn’t until yesterday.” Brooke shook her head, then continued to explain. “We got into a huge fight over it. She’s had a crush on Loran since she was about 14, I guess. She accused me of imitating Loran to get to her. You can imagine how well that went over with C.C., right?”

“Big, I bet.” Peter thought for a moment, “Fourteen, that would have made us,” he tried to decipher the ages and then made a funny face at Brooke. “Hey, how old is she?”

The tall woman looked down at her feet, kicking at the floor. Then Brooke looked back up and grinned at Peter. “She’ll be twenty-one the night we play.”

Peter shook his head and let out a low whistle. “When you fall…” he smiled at her, watching the blush rise to her face again. “You fall big, don’t you?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Well, I hope for your sake that it’s real.”

“Oh, it is.” Brooke assured him. “That’s why I didn’t tell her right away. I wanted to make sure she wanted me, not Loran. I wanted to tell her but kind of didn’t want to…you know?”

“Afraid to scare her away?” Peter asked knowing full well the reputation that Loran was reported to have had.

“I almost did,” Brooke nodded. “She thought I was some raving lunatic, trying to become someone else to make her happy.”

“Brooke, who wouldn’t want you?” He held up his hand to calm her protest, “I know, you’re not that type. Ah…but you know what I mean.”

“Thanks Pete,” Brooke offered a smile. “But, I wanted her to love me, not Loran. That’s all.”

Leaning back, Peter eyed her up. “Yeah,” he tilted his head to one side then the other, “I can see the very slightest resemblance to someone I once knew.” He tapped his finger to his head trying to remember. “Brooke…ah…Brooke…” he rolled his eyes then said, “Gordon.” The man gave her a faint smile and a wink then walked away.

The hours in the studio had quickly flown by with Brooke studying the trio’s style and jotting down some of their weak points to be addressed later. The biggest one of all was Eddie. The young man was very energetic but when it came to putting it all together, the raw talent of a natural drummer just wasn’t there. It was something that Brooke was going to have to take care of, even if she’d school him herself. Now she understood why James insisted on having her do the producing. She’d have to hand it to James, though. It was a nice try to get her back into the group. But her mind was made up.

Brooke stared out the window of the pizza shop as she finished her first slice, listening to the others talk. When she was done, she wiped her mouth with the napkin and looked directly at the blonde-haired man across from her. “Yeah, so what’d you think Eddie? Not too much different with the mics, huh?”

The young man swallowed. “I’m not sure I can do that. You know, playing and singing back up,” Eddie shook his head. “I’ve got enough to concentrate on with the drums. Maybe I’m not what you guys need.”

“Sure, you can. Just do one at a time. Don’t try to sing while we’re recording the drums.” Brooke selected another piece of pizza.

“Maybe that would help?”

“Sure it will,” she winked at him. “Then we’ll come back over and record your vocals, once the drums are done.”

“Heck,” Peter piped in. “We did it all the time that way. Remember, James?” The bassist tried to pull the obviously preoccupied man into the conversation.

“Yeah,” Brooke nodded. “Once you’re secure on each one separately, you’ll have no trouble doing them together.”

James lowered the bottle from his lips, “Yeah, I remember.” Turning the bottle upside down, the man was dismayed to see that it was empty. “I need a beer.” He stood up, motioning with his flailing arms in the air to gain some attention.

Both old band mates just looked away from James as he made a spectacle of himself at the table, even causing Eddie to roll his eyes.

Brooke cleared her throat, “Anyway, Eddie…”

“I’ll try. Thanks for working with me, Brooke.”

“No problem. Just let me know if you need any help on anything. You’ll get it,” Brooke winked, then bit into her piece of pizza.

“I’m sorry I’m not a natural like you.” Eddie turned his attention back to his food.

James’ face grew tense as he tried not to lose his mouthful of beer. Swallowing it in a hurry, he let out a forced laugh, “Natural? Now that’s a laugh.”

Brooke exchanged glances with Peter who was sitting next to her, not sure if it was a compliment or if she should be offended. “Something to say, James?” She turned her eyes back to the man across from her.

“Nothing I haven’t said before,” the man smirked, then took another swig of his beer.

“James…” one dark eyebrow rose high on her forehead as blue eyes turned to steel.

“Hey, she’s all sticks and skins,” Peter tried to settle the emotions that he saw surfacing. “What’ s more natural?”

The gaunt looking man turned in his chair, placing the bottle to his lips and drank more beer.

Brooke placed her hand on Peter’s arm, “It’s alright…”

Just then James got up and announced, “I’ve got to go make room for more beer.” He finished the bottle he had and set it down looking directly at Brooke, then winked. “I’ll be back.” He turned then sauntered off toward the men’s room.

Brooke placed her head in her hands. Damn, I wish I were back in Virginia with Sam.

“Sorry, about that Brooke. You know that he doesn’t mean it,” Peter tried to reassure his old friend.

The woman raised her head, then looked down the long hallway that led to the restrooms. “No, he means it all right. That’s his natural way.”

Peter waved his hand in a good riddance manner, “Just forget about him.” Then he smiled and nudged Brooke with his shoulder. “Hey, so when do we get to meet your friend?”